Tracer sensitive tapes

A leak detection system has been developed, consisting of a tape that can be wrapped around possible leak sites on a system pressurized with air or gaseous nitrogen. Carbon monoxide, at a level of 100 to 1000 parts per million is used as a trace gas in the pressurized system. The sensitive element of the tape is palladium chloride supported on specially prepared silica gel and specially dried. At a CO level of 100 ppm and a leak rate of 10-20 ml/hr, discoloration of the sensitive element is observed in 1.5 to 3 min. The tape and trace gas are compatible with aerospace hardware, safe to handle, and economically reasonable to produce and handle

Application of Pade Approximants to Determination of alpha_s(M_Z^2) from Hadronic Event Shape Observables in e+e- Annihilation

We have applied Pade approximants to perturbative QCD calculations of event shape observables in e+e- --> hadrons. We used the exact O(alpha_s^2) prediction and the [0/1] Pade approximant to estimate the O(alpha_s^3) term for 15 observables, and in each case determined alpha_s(M_Z^2) from comparison with hadronic Z^0 decay data from the SLD experiment. We found the scatter among the alpha_s(M_Z^2) values to be significantly reduced compared with the standard O(alpha_s^2) determination, implying that the Pade method provides at least a partial approximation of higher-order perturbative contributions to event shape observables.Comment: 15 pages, 1 EPS figure, Submitted to Physics Letters

QCD: Challenges for the Future

Despite many experimental verifications of the correctness of our basic understanding of QCD, there remain numerous open questions in strong interaction physics and we focus on the role of future colliders in addressing these questions. We discuss possible advances in the measurement of $\alpha_s$, in the study of parton distribution functions, and in the understanding of low $x$ physics at present colliders and potential new facilities. We also touch briefly on the role of spin physics in advancing our understanding of QCD.Comment: 12 pages, LATEX2e with snow2e, epsfig and 2 figures. Also available at http://penguin.phy.bnl.gov/~dawson/qcdsnow.ps . QCD working group summary at DPF/DPB Summer Study on New Directions for High Energy Physics, Snowmass, CO, June 25- July 12, 199

Comment on "Pulsar Velocities and Neutrino Oscillations"

In a recent Letter, Kusenko and Segre proposed a new mechanism to explain the observed proper motions of pulsars. Their mechanism was based on the asymmetric neutrino emission induced by neutrino oscillations in the protoneutron star magnetic field. In this note I point out that their estimate of the asymmetry in the neutrino emission is incorrect. A proper calculation shows that their mechanism at least requires a magnetic field of 10**16 G in order to produce the observed average pulsar velocity.Comment: 4 pages, RevTe

Sympathetic cooling of 4^4He+^+ ions in a radiofrequency trap

We have generated Coulomb crystals of ultracold $^4$He$^+$ ions in a linear radiofrequency trap, by sympathetic cooling via laser--cooled $^9$Be$^+$. Stable crystals containing up to 150 localized He$^+$ ions at $\sim$20 mK were obtained. Ensembles or single ultracold He$^+$ ions open up interesting perspectives for performing precision tests of QED and measurements of nuclear radii. The present work also indicates the feasibility of cooling and crystallizing highly charged atomic ions using $^9$Be$^+$ as coolant.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Three years of greenhouse gas column-averaged dry air mole fractions retrieved from satellite – Part 2: Methane

Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are the two most important anthropogenic greenhouse gases. SCIAMACHY on ENVISAT is the first satellite instrument whose measurements are sensitive to concentration changes of the two gases at all altitude levels down to the Earth's surface where the source/sink signals are largest. We have processed three years (2003–2005) of SCIAMACHY near-infrared nadir measurements to simultaneously retrieve vertical columns of CO2 (from the 1.58 µm absorption band), CH4 (1.66 µm) and oxygen (O2 A-band at 0.76 µm) using the scientific retrieval algorithm WFM-DOAS. We show that the latest version of WFM-DOAS, version 1.0, which is used for this study, has been significantly improved with respect to its accuracy compared to the previous versions while essentially maintaining its high processing speed (~1 min per orbit, corresponding to ~6000 single measurements, and per gas on a standard PC). The greenhouse gas columns are converted to dry air column-averaged mole fractions, denoted XCO2 (in ppm) and XCH4 (in ppb), by dividing the greenhouse gas columns by simultaneously retrieved dry air columns. For XCO2 dry air columns are obtained from the retrieved O2 columns. For XCH4 dry air columns are obtained from the retrieved CO2 columns because of better cancellation of light path related errors compared to using O2 columns retrieved from the spectrally distant O2 A-band. Here we focus on a discussion of the XCH4 data set. The XCO2 data set is discussed in a separate paper (Part 1). For 2003 we present detailed comparisons with the TM5 model which has been optimally matched to highly accurate but sparse methane surface observations. After accounting for a systematic low bias of ~2% agreement with TM5 is typically within 1–2%. We investigated to what extent the SCIAMACHY XCH4 is influenced by the variability of atmospheric CO2 using global CO2 fields from NOAA's CO2 assimilation system CarbonTracker. We show that the CO2 corrected and uncorrected XCH4 spatio-temporal pattern are very similar but that agreement with TM5 is better for the CarbonTracker CO2 corrected XCH4. In line with previous studies (e.g., Frankenberg et al., 2005b) we find higher methane over the tropics compared to the model. We show that tropical methane is also higher when normalizing the CH4 columns with retrieved O2 columns instead of CO2. In consistency with recent results of Frankenberg et al. (2008b) it is shown that the magnitude of the retrieved tropical methane is sensitive to the choice of the spectroscopic line parameters of water vapour. Concerning inter-annual variability we find similar methane spatio-temporal pattern for 2003 and 2004. For 2005 the retrieved methane shows significantly higher variability compared to the two previous years, most likely due to somewhat larger noise of the spectral measurement

Equation-of-State Dependent Features in Shock-Oscillation Modulated Neutrino and Gravitational-Wave Signals from Supernovae

We present 2D hydrodynamic simulations of the long-time accretion phase of a 15 solar mass star after core bounce and before the launch of a supernova explosion. Our simulations are performed with the Prometheus-Vertex code, employing multi-flavor, energy-dependent neutrino transport and an effective relativistic gravitational potential. Testing the influence of a stiff and a soft equation of state for hot neutron star matter, we find that the non-radial mass motions in the supernova core due to the standing accretion shock instability (SASI) and convection impose a time variability on the neutrino and gravitational-wave signals. These variations have larger amplitudes as well as higher frequencies in the case of a more compact nascent neutron star. After the prompt shock-breakout burst of electron neutrinos, a more compact accreting remnant radiates neutrinos with higher luminosities and larger mean energies. The observable neutrino emission in the direction of SASI shock oscillations exhibits a modulation of several 10% in the luminosities and ~1 MeV in the mean energies with most power at typical SASI frequencies of 20-100 Hz. At times later than 50-100 ms after bounce the gravitational-wave amplitude is dominated by the growing low-frequency (<200 Hz) signal associated with anisotropic neutrino emission. A high-frequency wave signal is caused by nonradial gas flows in the outer neutron star layers, which are stirred by anisotropic accretion from the SASI and convective regions. The gravitational-wave power then peaks at about 300-800 Hz with distinctively higher spectral frequencies originating from the more compact and more rapidly contracting neutron star. The detectability of the SASI effects in the neutrino and gravitational-wave signals is briefly discussed. (abridged)Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 45 eps files; revised version including discussion of signal detectability; accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics; high-resolution images can be obtained upon reques

Supernova Neutrino Opacity from Nucleon-Nucleon Bremsstrahlung and Related Processes

Elastic scattering on nucleons, \nu N -> N \nu, is the dominant supernova (SN) opacity source for \mu and \tau neutrinos. The dominant energy- and number-changing processes were thought to be \nu e^- -> e^- \nu and \nu\bar \nu e^+ e^- until Suzuki (1993) showed that the bremsstrahlung process \nu\bar \nu NN NN was actually more important. We find that for energy exchange, the related ``inelastic scattering process'' \nu NN NN \nu is even more effective by about a factor of 10. A simple estimate implies that the \nu_\mu and \nu_\tau spectra emitted during the Kelvin-Helmholtz cooling phase are much closer to that of \nu\bar_e than had been thought previously. To facilitate a numerical study of the spectra formation we derive a scattering kernel which governs both bremsstrahlung and inelastic scattering and give an analytic approximation formula. We consider only neutron-neutron interactions, we use a one-pion exchange potential in Born approximation, nonrelativistic neutrons, and the long-wavelength limit, simplifications which appear justified for the surface layers of a SN core. We include the pion mass in the potential and we allow for an arbitrary degree of neutron degeneracy. Our treatment does not include the neutron-proton process and does not include nucleon-nucleon correlations. Our perturbative approach applies only to the SN surface layers, i.e. to densities below about 10^{14} g cm^{-3}.Comment: 36 pages, LaTeX, 6 postscript figs included, matches version accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa

Theoretical Spectral Models of the Planet HD 209458b with a Thermal Inversion and Water Emission Bands

We find that a theoretical fit to all the HD 209458b data at secondary eclipse requires that the dayside atmosphere of HD 209458b have a thermal inversion and a stratosphere. This inversion is caused by the capture of optical stellar flux by an absorber of uncertain origin that resides at altitude. One consequence of stratospheric heating and temperature inversion is the flipping of water absorption features into emission features from the near- to the mid-infrared and we see evidence of such a water emission feature in the recent HD 209458b IRAC data of Knutson et al. In addition, an upper-atmosphere optical absorber may help explain both the weaker-than-expected Na D feature seen in transit and the fact that the transit radius at 24 $\mu$m is smaller than the corresponding radius in the optical. Moreover, it may be a factor in why HD 209458b's optical transit radius is as large as it is. We speculate on the nature of this absorber and the planets whose atmospheres may, or may not, be affected by its presence.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters on August 28, 2007, six pages in emulateapj forma